


Baby, Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic

by DyslexicSquirrel



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Ambiguously Happy Ending, Angst and Feels, Biting, Dubious Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, Is that a thing, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mild Blood, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Omega Steve Rogers, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:49:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29833512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DyslexicSquirrel/pseuds/DyslexicSquirrel
Summary: Barnes was a soldier. As the Fist of Hydra, he knew nothing but blood and violence. Until he was given a broken Omega, feral and in heat. Saved from an illegal Omega camp, Barnes job is to get him back on the right path.He wasn’t expecting his world to get rocked on its axis.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 9
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to Moony since it’s their fault I finished writing this in the first place. 
> 
> Check end notes for spoilers about the dubcon tag. 
> 
> Non-spoilery warning: Bucky refers to Steve as a lioness. That is on purpose. 
> 
> This fic is finished, all mistakes are mine, and I’ll update with the remaining chapters over the next day or two.

Barnes hated this wing. It smelled like industrial cleaner and old blood. It was rare for him to have to go to medical, his enhancements meant he was rarely hurt enough to require a doctor's care after a mission and since his graduation from the Academy, he didn’t need the medication the younger recruits did. His prosthetic was considered a weapon. It’s maintenance was never performed by medical personnel. 

It had been one year, four months and twenty-two days since Barnes had been here and he would have preferred to keep the streak going, but when Director Pierce commanded your presence, you reported without question or hesitation. A soldier who couldn’t follow orders was a liability. 

Director Pierce was standing in front of one of the observation room windows, arms folded behind his back, suit perfectly pressed and not a hair out of place. Barnes stopped a respectful distance away from the other Alpha, at attention until Pierce murmured, “At ease, soldier.” 

His eyes never once left whatever was in the room. Barnes couldn’t make out more than a blank wall from his vantage point. He didn’t move and he didn’t speak, eyes trained on a spot beyond Pierce’s head. 

“Another Omega camp was found yesterday,” the Director said conversationally, as if he were reporting the weather. Barnes shifted his eyes to Pierce’s cheek, but otherwise remained still. “It was a rather large one. Forty-five Omegas were brought in, along with twelve Betas and three pre-pubescent Alphas.” 

His eyebrow almost twitched, but Barnes controlled it thanks to years of practice. All unwanted reactions had been beaten out of him years ago. Pierce finally looked at him, rhumerie blue eyes meeting Barnes’. “All the Omegas have been paired off.” 

It was common for the Omega’s seized in raids to be given to the soldiers, since those of pedigree were reserved for Hydra’s Elite, like Pierce. The ones from the camps? They needed help to re-acclimate to normal society. It was a way of furthering Hydra’s legacy and rewarding exemplary service. 

Barnes didn’t understand what it had to do with him, until Pierce added, “All except one,” gaze cutting back to the window before focusing with laser-like precision on the other Alpha, “He’s been a bit of a problem.” 

Barnes frowned then, just a slight furrow of his brow. He still wasn’t close enough to the window to see anything, but he looked anyway, helpless to wonder what sort of  _ problem _ an abused Omega was causing. They were normally docile, grateful to be rescued. 

“He went a bit feral,” Pierce shrugged, looking once again at the window and beckoning Bucky closer. It was rare for an Omega to go feral. Barnes had never heard of an instance in his lifetime. He scanned the room, a white box, identical to all the other observation rooms; toilet, sink, a single bed on a metal frame. 

The glaring difference was the nest hidden in the corner. His frown deepened. “It’s understandable. His estrus was triggered by the Alphas on the extraction team like all the others in this lot, but we think this one must have been living there for most of his life. The doctor’s who evaluated him say this is his first heat.” 

Barnes’ eyes were glued to the nest. Caught a pale, slim foot that poked out of the mound of blankets and pillows before it disappeared again. His nose twitched even though he couldn’t smell anything through the hermetically sealed walls and doors. 

Pierce clicked his tongue. “Poor thing. Age was estimated to be between eighteen and twenty-two years old.” 

He couldn’t keep the horror from his face at that news, head jerking around to face the director. Omegas typically had their first estrus between twelve and fourteen. Denying natural biology for possibly ten years? Who would do such a thing? 

They were taught the brutality of the camps and Barnes had been on a few extraction teams earlier in his training, but he hadn’t ever seen anything like this. No wonder the Omega went crazy. If denied exposure to Alpha pheromones they didn’t develop correctly— stunted in growth and social skills, infertility, unpredictable heats. 

“You’ve never been given an Omega have you, soldier?” 

“No, sir.” He was kept too busy on missions to have time to tend to an Omega. After a bonding, Omega’s heats hit every month until a successful breeding. The higher ups deemed Barnes’ skills too useful to bench him for that long and he had never pressed the issue— he would rather be in the field. 

“I know you’re eager to get back out there, son,” Pierce placed a hand on his shoulders. Barnes locked his muscles against the urge to jerk away. It was just his instincts, overactive after the serum, he told himself. “Fighting the good fight. But this is a special case.”

“Yes, sir.”

“He’s managed to put three of our own in medical after rejecting them.” Barnes didn’t understand how that was possible. Putting aside the fact that all the soldiers here were highly trained Hydra operatives, the majority of whom were Alphas—rejecting  _ three  _ Alphas, in the midst of estrus, no less? How broken was he? Barnes’ heart clenched, foreign emotions stirring, and he made a promise to himself and the Omega—still faceless and unknown—that he would help him no matter what he needed to do. 

“We need this handled, soldier.” 

“Of course, sir.” Pierce patted him on the shoulder and stepped away, toward a panel on the opposite wall that unlocked the door. “A few Betas have been assigned to bring you anything you might need,” Betas were the only ones who could get close to an Alpha tending an Omega through estrus without triggering a territorial response, “and you’ve been taken out of rotation for the next three weeks. We’ll reevaluate as needed.” 

Barnes nodded. As soon as Pierce pressed the button, the barest hint of  _ heat  _ slapped Barnes in the face so hard he got dizzy. It was so thick he couldn’t pick out any of the finer details until he was through the door, the lock engaging behind him. Memories almost forgotten played through his mind, of warm summer days filled with the scent of honeysuckle, the way sand smelled when it baked in the sun, marshmallows charing over a fire. 

He was so distracted by the smells, he almost missed the low growl, muffled by blankets. He stripped off his jacket and approached the nest with sure, steady strides. Lifting up a corner of the mound, he shoved the material under the pile, letting the Omega catch his scent. 

With a snarl it was kicked out, sliding across the floor. Barnes watched it until it stopped. He drew in another lungful of the earthy, sweet scent; let it out on a sigh. Before the Omega could guess what he was doing, Barnes reached into the nest with his metal hand, clamped around an ankle, and dragged the snarling, hissing Omega into the harsh fluorescent lights. 

Bright blue eyes, blonde hair, skin flushed pink and dotted with freckles. Tiny fangs peeking from between plush lips, twisted in fury. Long limbs, tiny waist, slim hips. Thin, his brain supplied. He was too thin and something long buried in his brain howled to feed this Omega. 

But first, Barnes needed him to calm down. Transferring his grip to a birdlike wrist, he pulled the Omega up, legs tangling together, and pressed the Omega’s face to his neck. Barnes hissed when nails scratched his arms and teeth ripped at his throat, but he held on and pressed the Omega closer until snorts became huffs, turned into tentative inhales. 

A growl still vibrated in the chest pressed to his side, surprisingly strong hands pushed, but he counted this as progress. When the Omega stilled, continuing to voice his displeasure, Barnes risked loosening his hold that boarderred on bruising to stop the Omega from injuring himself. Barnes wouldn’t go into the nest, not until he was invited, but it was clear this Omega needed a firm hand— half-wild, not knowing what was good for him. 

He pulled the mattress, thin, military issue, onto the floor. They wouldn’t be using the bed— the Omega was flighty and spooked easy. Barnes didn’t want him falling off the bed in a fit. He also didn’t want to press all that naked skin to the cold linoleum. It looked as if a stiff breeze would knock the poor thing over. 

Lips thin, Barnes rolled, using his bulk to pin the Omega, caging him with his body. Flailing hands were pressed to the mattress, snapping teeth evaded, legs trapped between thick thighs to stop a well aimed kick to the groin. His nose was muddied by the scents of  _ heat  _ and  _ want  _ and  _ mine _ , but ingrained reflexes, honed to deadly precision, had Barnes acting on autopilot. 

His hindbrain took over the rest. 

He wasn’t aware of taking a delicate throat between his teeth or the reprimanding growl he issued—  _ submit _ ,  _ be a good boy _ — until the Omega’s whine registered, high and on edge. His lips turned nuzzling, caressing. He covered every inch of flesh he could in his scent. 

It took hours. Or days. Barnes lost the flow of time. Pressed skin to skin to the Omega, stroking downy softness. His clothes were tossed away, forgotten. He tasted the salt of sweat and tears. 

“Present.” A jab of fingers, aimed for his eyes. Impressive. He was well trained and it made Barnes proud. He let the Omega wrestle, trying to let him tire himself out. 

“Present.” Spit ran down his cheek, followed by a stinging slap. A hissing beast beneath him. Two steps forward, ten steps back. 

“Present.” The Omega twisted away then, slipping from his grasp long enough for a foot to jab his solar plexus. They faced off, snarling at each other. Neither willing to back down. A distraction, sloppy, he thought shaking his head. A trail of slick coating the expanse of a peachy-pink thigh and ninety pounds of feral Omega slammed into him. 

It was a short lived victory, one Barnes let his Omega— his, god above  _ his _ — revel in for the time it took him to clear his mind enough. He couldn’t lose control, not completely. He could break the Omega without even trying. 

This had dragged on long enough. Frustration at his Omega for not letting him do his  _ damn job _ . He was burning hot and squirming. Body screaming  _ fuck me _ ; what was left of his brain resisted for a reason the Alpha couldn’t fathom. 

He was done indulging. It did more harm than good, he could see that now. 

Faster than the Omega could track, Barnes had him belly down in the middle of the floor. His indignant squawk was muffled by a metal hand. The hand length of Alpha cock a warning and a promise along his back. Fangs against a scent gland, almost hard enough to break skin, threatening. It was an empty threat— Barnes wouldn’t take the easy way out by forcing his will. 

He’d have the Omega barring his neck of his own will or not bite him at all. He wanted to put his Omega back together, not break him further. He had already been hurt enough. Something Barnes understood. The only difference being, the Omega’s scars were on the inside. 

So quietly his enhanced hearing almost missed it, the Omega sighed. It was resignation more than acceptance, but for now Barnes would take it. He was tired of fighting. His entire life for as far back as he could remember had been filled with fighting. He was being given the chance at solace now— how had he run from  _ this _ for so long?— and he wanted nothing more than to sink into it. 

Him.

_ Mine _ . 

Who better to stand by the Wolf’s side than a Lioness? 

He licked over the place where he had bitten. An apology. He would kiss every bruise he had inflicted, but later. His own wounds meant nothing. Most had stopped bleeding already, his body working on healing him. 

Alphas didn’t purr, but the sound he made was as close to one as his vocal cords could get. His Omega huffed, squirming and Barnes though,  _ Son of a bitch _ , before he realized he was only spreading his legs, making a place for the Alpha between them. The unspoken  _ Get on with it _ couldn’t have been more apparent. 

Barnes laughed. Something he hadn’t done in… He tried to remember and his head hurt so he stopped. His Omega was going to keep him on his toes when his heat was over. 

He couldn’t wait to push his dick into the tight, wet hole that was beckoning, but his Omega needed to know who was in charge. He wasn’t a weak Alpha. His Omega would do well to remember. The impatient whines were hard to resist, but he sat back on his haunches, taking in the gracefully curved spine; the swell of an ass he wanted to sink his teeth into— turn red with his hand; the hard dick hanging between those spread thighs, small and delicate just like the rest of him. His mouth watered, wanting to taste every inch.

Barnes waited. 

His Omega stroked his own dick, stuffed two fingers into his hole. They slid in easy, slick dripping down between the digits, over his wrist. Barnes followed the trail with his tongue and traced the puffy rim. His Omega sobbed in relief, but relief gave way to anger when Barnes pulled away. The hand not currently occupied uselessly fucking himself slapped against the ground. 

Hissing like an angry cat over his shoulder, he didn’t back down right away when his Alpha snarled back, the shadow of his larger body falling over him. Barnes could lie in wait for hours for his prey, the feral creature below him wouldn’t win this battle of wills. With a narrow eyed gaze, Barnes pinned the smaller man in place. 

When the column of his throat was bared, he almost howled in triumph. 

The taste of blood burst on his tongue when Barnes struck, fangs breaking through unblemished skin. Colors shot off like fireworks behind his closed eyelids. He held his mate close, soothing his whimpers. 

The first thrust into wet heat felt like sin. It washed away the death and pain. All there was now was  _ mate _ . “Mine,” he snarled, licking over the wound he had made. It would scar and no one would be able to deny who this Omega belonged to. 

“Mine,” he said again, whispering against the shell of his mate’s ear. He felt the Omega shiver, hole clenching around his dick when he drew back, reluctant to let his Alpha go now that he was inside him. He didn’t leave him empty for long. 

The sound of his dick sliding in and out of his mate’s hole were obscene. His pelvis slapped against the plush swell of the Omega’s backside. Barnes squeezed the cheeks in hands, spreading them apart to watch where he disappeared. 

His mate’s rim was red and puffy, stretched around his dick. He was so tight, keeping the half formed knot outside of his body. His mate tried to press back, force it inside, whining when it didn’t work. 

Barnes slowly pressed his mate’s chest to the ground with his metal hand between prominent shoulder blades. It forced his mate’s hips higher, put his hole on display when Barnes nudged his knees wider. 

Even as wet as he was, heat hormones flooding his body, it took work and patience to press a finger in alongside his dick. His mate keened, teeth locked around his fist when a second finger stretched him open. He should take them out, he thought, when his knot finally popped in, but he didn’t. Pulled his knot out instead and pressed it back in, just to hear his little mate’s breath stutter.

Barnes wanted to stretch it out, make his mate suffer, poised on the knife edge of pleasure. Not letting him come until he was crying and shattered so Barnes could pick up the pieces.

It fought with the urge to knot and breed then lick every inch of his mate clean afterwards. Before doing it all again. 

Later. He could make him wait later. 

He pulled his slick soaked fingers from the Omega’s hole, slipped them between parted lips, and slammed his knot home. His mate’s scream was muffled around his fingers and the greedy tongue that swirled around them. Teeth pressed back against the mating bite, Barnes ground his hips against his Omega’s ass, knowing he found that sweet spot inside when the muscles around his knot clamped down like a vise. 

“Fuck, baby,” he wrapped his fingers around his mate’s dick, “Come on. I want it.” Two strokes and he was done, on a hair trigger. He had teased them both for hours, refusing to submit to his Alpha like he should. “That’s it. Good boy.” 

The grip of that tight hole pulled him over the edge. He didn’t realize his mate had fallen asleep until he rolled them over, the slight weight of the Omega across his chest. He hummed in pleasure, dick shooting off inside his mate, knot keeping everything inside, and lapped at the semen coating his fingers. 

He followed his mate into slumber with a smile on his face. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I planned on splitting this up into 3 chapters it I didn’t realize how short this one was? So here’s this one now whoops lmao

It took three days for his mate to invite him into the nest. 

Three days of Barnes fucking him senseless, sometimes literally, and waking up when his mate stirred, wiggling himself free of whatever position they collapsed in, retreating to the safety of his nest. 

It was fine. 

He was content with the fact that his mate smelled like him, leaking slick and come all over the blankets and pillows, breathing in their combined scents. He laid on the mattress, close enough to reach out and touch, but kept his hands to himself until his mate inevitably crawled back out and mounted him or took his cock in his mouth. 

He almost missed the blankets held up slightly in invitation, trying to catch some quick shut eye between rounds and the food and water he forced his mate to eat. It was a shift in the air that made him turn his head. He caught a glimpse of one bright blue eye curtained by sandy blonde hair, a mess from Barnes’ fingers gripping it. 

He moved slowly, not wanting to spook his mate into slamming this metaphorical door in his face. His nose twitched the closer he got, the warm, musky, sugary scent emanating from inside the nest pulling him forward on his knees like a siren's song. 

He had to duck even further to get inside without disturbing anything, almost slithering on his belly. He laid down on the fringe, staring back while his mate eyed him suspiciously from the other side of the warm expanse. It was barely an arms length that separated them, but it felt like an ocean with his badly Barnes wanted his mate back in his arms. 

His Omega inched slowly, pausing every so often to fluff a pillow or adjust the drape of a blanket. He still hadn’t spoken, eyes hazy even during a lull. Barnes was starting to think the feral madness wouldn’t let him go until his heat fully broke, but he found himself greedy for the sound of his mate’s voice. 

Barnes uncurled his flesh hand, holding it out palm up between them against the sheets. They were soft, but not as soft as his mate’s skin. His fingers, both fine boned and sturdy, circled Barnes’ wrist and pulled it to his nose. His mate scented him for long moments before his tongue joined the fray, kitten licks tracing his veins up his arm to the inside of his elbow. Tiny teeth nipped at his bicep. He rumbled in pleasure when those same teeth pressed against the crook of his neck. 

His mate sucked marks into his skin, hips rutting against his thigh. Barnes hooked his hand behind his mate’s knee with the intent to pull the smaller man astride him, but he kicked free with a hiss. Barnes held his hands up, cursing himself, thinking he’d just fucked up. 

He expected to get pushed from the nest, but his Omega simply settled down against his side and started rubbing his dick all over him. Precome and slick matted in the hair on his leg. His mate sucked harder at his neck, making happy little hums. 

Barnes wanted inside his mate, especially when he started grinding harder and whining. He wouldn’t be deterred, but his Omega didn’t complain when Barnes worked metal fingers against his hole and pressed them inside. If he couldn’t get his dick in his mate this would have to do. 

His Omega alternated between pressing back against his fingers and seeking friction against his cock, lapping the sweat from Barnes skin and nuzzling the hair on his chest. With the smaller body writhing all over him, Barnes let his muscles relax. His dick was hard enough to hammer nails, but it was secondary to the happy noises his mate made, clearly enjoying himself. 

His mate’s teeth and nails marked his skin, drawing pinpricks of blood, when he came across Barnes’ skin. He growled and spread himself across the sheets, answering his Omegas purr. His mate was dirty and greedy, rubbing his release across Barnes’ chest and licking his way down the alpha’s body. But only for me, he thought with a vicious grin, picturing the other Alphas he’d chased off. 

When the warmth of his mate’s mouth engulfed his dick, Barnes’ moaned. “Good boy,” he murmured, running his hands through golden locks. 

His mate’s heat was the longest week of his life, but also the best. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jokes on Bucky cause Steve is always a little feral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot to post this oop

His first mission back was a hell unlike he had ever known. His concentration was shot to shit, he took risks he normally wouldn’t have just to get it over with and back to his mate, who was all alone in their quarters on base. The doctor he spoke with before he left, a Beta with a smile as placid as her scent, assured him that his mate would be looked after while he was gone. 

After he limped back with his unit, a bullet in his thigh, his handler held a gun to his head, letting him know in no uncertain terms that if he wasn’t freshly mated, he wouldn’t be breathing after disobeying orders like that. He knelt on the carrier's ramp, cold metal heated by his skin carving a dent in his forehead, until Rumlow grunted and holstered his weapon telling to get his sorry ass on the damn plane. 

Barnes dug the bullet out himself on the flight back. He shrugged off offers of stitches and pain meds. “Let him go,” he heard Rumlow say behind him as he broke out in a jog toward the residential wing. “Bastard deserves the pain.” 

Blood dried the material of his TAC pants to his skin, tugging with every step and reopening the wound. Barnes didn’t care. He ran the whole way, needing to work the adrenaline out of his system. He wanted too damn much. The desire for his mate like a fire in his blood. 

He was still in full armor, weapons strapped to his body when he walked through the door. He strode straight down the hallway that led to the bedroom and the bathroom, the latter of which stood empty when he passed. 

Barnes didn’t breath again until he saw his mate lying peacefully in their bed. He wasn’t sleeping, the cadence of his breathing was wrong, but he wanted Barnes to think he was. Shy, maybe, reuniting now that his mind was clear. Embarrassed by his behavior. 

He let him have his ruse. He was calmer just being in the same room, the anxiety of separation dying down. He stowed his weapons in the safe in the closet and approached the bed, one knee propped next to his mate’s hip, and caged him between his arms. 

The knife that flew toward his face shouldn’t have surprised him, all things considered.

He grabbed the hand that wielded it and pressed it to the bed. It left him open for the headbutt that followed. It hurt his mate more than it hurt him, catching the mask Barnes forgot he was wearing, loosening the strap. 

“Son of bitch,” was the first thing he heard his mate say, garbled by the hand he pressed to his nose. 

Barnes didn’t feel sorry for him. He got shot trying to get home to his mate and gets greeted with a murder attempt. The mask hit the wall after he ripped it the rest of the way off and threw it, leaning down to snarl at the omega cursing up a storm. 

“Don’t touch me, you bastard,” was snarled back. 

Barnes pressed his mate flat against the mattress when he tried to roll out from under him. “What the hell is wrong with you?” 

“Excuse me if I don’t like being kidnapped and raped by Hydra scum.” 

He reared back, the words landing like a physical blow, staring at the vibrating bundle of anger. “What?” 

“You heard me.” Barnes had never seen so much anger leveled at him and he’d stared into the eyes of enemies of the State before executing them. “One day I’m getting out of here and if I have to slit your throat to do it I will.” 

What did they do to you? He thought that this was over, but he’d been deluding himself that one heat would fix everything. It wasn’t his mate’s fault, though. He was going to help him like a good Alpha. He exhaled all his emotions like he did before a mission and pushed his hair out of his face. “You’re safe now. Eventually, you’ll realize that. Until then, you can try to kill me, but you—”

“Bucky?” 

The strangled word cut Barnes off mid-sentence. All the anger had drained out of his mate like it never was. Tears clung to the corner of his eyes. “Is— is that you?”

Barnes tilted his head in curiosity. His mate clearly thought he was someone else. 

“It’s me, Steve.” So that was his mate’s name. It was nice. The hands that had moments before tried to stab him gripped his hard. “Fuck, Bucky. I thought you were dead. If I’d known you were alive I would have tried to find you.” 

“I don’t know who this ‘Bucky’ is. My name is Barnes. I’m the Winter Soldier The Fist of Hydra.” 

“Bullshit.” Steve shoved him, making a frustrated noise in the back of his throat when the Alpha didn’t budge. “You’re James Buchanan Barnes. We grew up together. You were my best friend.” 

Barnes furrowed his brow. A sharp pain bloomed near the base of his skull. He sat back with a grunt, blinked spots from his eyes. 

“You were getting kicked out of the camp, before your first rut hit. It’s what they always did to the Alphas. But I was supposed to go with you.” 

“Shut up.” It was a whisper and even that made the pain in his head worse. 

“You went out scouting for supplies and we were going to meet later that night.” His eyes were clenched, but he could smell the tang of salt in the air from his mate’s tears. “In that clearing we found in the woods. The one with the fairy circle like in the stories my ma used to tell.” 

Barnes had never been there— he  _ hadn’t _ , but he could almost see it. The shrubs they had to crawl through, the moss covered rocks, the soft grass. The honeysuckle bush he used to tease Steve about because it smelled just like him. His breathing picked up. 

Not-Barnes picked the little yellow and white flowers and put them in Steve’s hair.  _ They’re not as pretty as you _ , a voice that sounded like him said with a laugh.

“You didn’t show up.”  _ I didn’t know.  _

“I camped out for three days before I gave up cause it started raining. Had to stay in bed for a week ‘cause I got sick. That cold I got the winter before. My lungs were still weak, I guess,” Steve said, the shrug Barnes couldn’t see was evident in his tone.  _ It wasn’t a cold, you asshole, you almost died.  _

“Your mom, she, uh— ” he paused, something between a laugh and a huff passing his lips, and Barnes cracked his eyes open, trying to ignore the light that stabbed them like ice picks, “kept feeding me soup. It tasted awful cause she couldn’t cook, but I ate it anyway cause it reminded me of you.” 

Steve, his wild, fearless mate, looked small. His arms were wrapped around his chest, legs drawn up, staring unfocused at the bed. He looked—

_ Like he had when he was sick, twisted up in all the blankets they could spare, coughing and wheezing while someone held his hand.  _

Not someone.  _ Him _ . 

The sound that exploded in the room was like a wounded animal and he was shocked to realize it came from his throat. His knees hit the carpet, fingers tangling in his own hair. 

“Bucky?” Soft hands touching his arm and Bucky—  _ Barnes, Goddamnit. Your name is Barnes—  _ jerked back, scuttling away. He clawed at his scalp as memories, both foreign and achingly familiar, played like a film reel across his closed eyelids. He snarled and drove his fist into the floor. 

“You remember don’t you?” 

“Get away from me.” He lashed out, swung his flesh arm, but Steve ducked under the limb and gripped the other one. The one that could crush his scrawny little neck. He roared and his mate barely flinched. 

Bull headed, son of a—

Didn’t have the sense God gave a bug— 

He was so annoying and—

Fuck. Oh, fuck. 

“Stevie, what did I do?” 

He was wrapped up in a tight hug. “Nothing,” Steve whispered fiercely against his ear, not budging when Barnes— Bucky?— tried to shake him off. He didn’t try that hard. “It wasn’t you.” 

“You don’t know me anymore. The things I’ve done.”  _ What I did to you _ , he thought, seeing Steve’s face when he said, “I don’t like being kidnapped and raped.” 

He’d killed people. A lot of people. Sometimes he’d liked it. 

He had dragged people— people like Steve— out of their homes, kicking and screaming, so sure he was  _ doing the right thing.  _ He was the bad guy. The monster under the bed. 

“I’m getting you out of here.” He rolled to his feet, dragging Steve up with him by the back of his shirt. One of his, he noticed belatedly. It covered the Omega to mid-thigh. He didn’t allow himself to get distracted by that. He knew how sweet those thighs were. 

“Bucky, stop. Talk to me.” Barnes released him long enough to pull a pair of sweatpants out of his dresser and shove them into Steve’s hands. Then he turned to retrieve his weapons. Just in case. 

Not that anyone would question him. He could drop his Omega in the middle of the ocean and no one would bat an eye. He had helped these people. Worse, he’d believed the same shit they did. There was still an insidious voice whispering in the back of his mind to punish Steve for talking back to him. He curled his metal fist against the impulse so hard it whirred. 

Something soft hit him in the back of the head. He spun, catching the soft, gray cotton before it hit the ground, and met Steve’s narrowed gaze. “Will you stop for a second, you knothead?”

Barnes’ lips pulled back from his teeth. “What?” he gritted. 

Steve hesitated. Not because he was scared— he smelled like frustration and a little like sadness, but not fear. “I think I knew it was you.” Barnes shook his head and Steve looked away, lips rolling in before he said, “During my heat. I don’t remember much, but I had this feeling…” 

When he trailed off, Barnes felt like his lungs forgot how to work. “Then when I woke up here,” Steve continued, “I thought I was imagining things, that your scent was familiar. Trying to find something good out of all this.” 

Barnes didn’t know if  _ he _ was imagining things, hearing hurt and longing in Steve’s voice. But the person he was thinking of was a ghost. Maybe Bucky deserved Steve, but Barnes didn’t. If he did one decent thing in his life, it would be to give Steve back his. 

“It doesn’t matter. Come on, we gotta go.” He had a mission in two days so he needed as much time as he could get to put distance between Steve and this base. 

And himself. Because given the chance, Barnes would take him back, lock him up, and chain him to the bed so he wouldn’t get hurt even if it meant Steve hated him. 

Steve slapped his hand away when Barnes reached for him again. “Don’t tell me what doesn’t matter. I can still stab you.” 

“Always were a feisty, little shit,” he said fondly, lips quirking. The memories rushing through his head threatened to take him under like waves. It hurt, but he pushed it aside. He’d been trained to ignore pain. “You put three Hydra agents in the hospital, by the way.” 

“I did?” Steve’s brow furrowed, but then his face settled into an expression Barnes knew on some gut level meant that Steve was going to say something he didn’t like. “Good. But we need to talk. I’m not leaving without the others.” 

“Others?” He asked, but he knew. Fuck.

“From the camp.” Steve closed the distance between them, took Bucky’s hands in his own. “I don’t know how many they got. We had escape routes. I know some people got out, but I can’t let them…” 

Steve trailed off, the  _ ‘do what they did to us’ _ left unsaid. “Forty-five Omegas, twelve Betas and three alphas,” he recited by rote, but he swallowed. 

The Omegas would be scattered, some possibly sent to other bases, the Betas in holding cells until they could be trusted and if not— he blinked that away. 

What if he knew them? He’d lived there for thirteen years, give or take. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

The Alphas, young like Bucky had been when he came here. He knew exactly what would happen to them— the drugs, the lessons, the sleepless nights and empty stomach until you didn’t know which way was up. They never yelled, but sometimes that was worse. 

“Damnit. That’s half the camp,” Steve was saying and Barnes was shaking his head before he finished speaking. “Do you know where they are? Is there a way out of here? Bucky?”

“Don’t call me that.” Steve looked like he’d been slapped and Barnes took a deep breath. “Not yet. I can’t— not yet.” 

“Alright. What do you want me to call you?” 

_ Alpha _ , something snarled. He shoved it in a box. His eyes caressed the scar on Steve’s neck then jerked away. He slipped his hand from Steve’s. “Just Barnes. And we can’t get that many people out. Not without blowing this place up.” 

“Okay,” Steve said with a shrug. He slid the sweats up over his legs, cinching the waist tight. Barnes wanted to rip them off. Instead, he took his weapons cases out of the closet and started slotting knives into the shieths on his vest and pants. 

“No.” It was impossible. 

“Then I’m staying here.” Steve crossed his arms over his chest and sat on the edge of the bed. 

“What the fuck are you doing, Steve?”

“If we can’t get them out all at once, then we do it slow. You’re the Winter Soldier, aren’t you? Hydra’s fist or whatever. You can figure it out.” 

“This isn’t a fucking joke,” he said, trying to make Steve see sense. “You’re not safe here.” 

“Neither is anyone else. They took  _ children _ .” 

“I don’t care,” he yelled, at the end of his rope. He would throw Steve over his shoulder and carry him out if that’s what it took. “You’re the only one I give a shit about.” 

Suddenly the Omega was in his face, stinking of rage. He grabbed one of the buckle’s on Barnes’ vest, jerking the Alpha until they were eye to eye and, caught off guard, Barnes went with it. Steve still had to push up on his toes to growl in his face. “You listen to me, James Buchanan Barnes, I didn’t let steamroll me when we were kids, I’m sure the hell not starting now.”

They were both panting and he wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but they were flat on the bed, the Omega pinned beneath his weight, before he realized he’d moved. Steve was sucking on his tongue and he was biting Steve’s lips. 

Barnes was still running high on adrenaline. He held too tight, pulled too hard at Steve’s borrowed shirt. The sleeve ripped when he tugged to lave a delicate collar bone, across the scar of his bite. His hands slipped under the shirt, across the Omega’s chest. 

“B- Barnes,” Steve groaned, pressing up into the touch. His legs shifted restlessly. 

“Hmm?” he hummed against the dip between the Omega’s pecs. He could suck on Steve’s tits for hours and not get bored. 

Steve’s fingers tangled in his hair and yanked. “Stop teasing.” 

“‘m not,” he breathed against Steve’s skin. Steve’s skin smelled different, tasted different, than when he was in heat. Not as sweet, but no less addicting. 

“Then why aren’t I naked?” Steve groused and Barnes’ head jerked up. His skin was flushed, the intensity of his stare freezing the Alpha in place. A featherlight touch traced across his cheekbone. “I wanna remember it this time.” 

The thought that this wasn’t about him crept in. The way Steve was looking at him, but not actually seeing  _ him _ . He knew; he was just too much of a greedy bastard to care. 

Barnes took Steve’s mouth again, moving his head just the way he wanted it. He wanted to get in every part of Steve possible. Together they worked the sweats down Steve’s legs. Steve attacked his fly with single minded purpose, pulling it open and pushing his pants down enough to wrap a hand around the Alpha’s dick. “Oh, fuck, Steve.” 

“Please.” Barnes swallowed the word, bucking into Steve’s grip. He fit between the Omega’s thighs like he belonged there. He wasn’t wet enough, but when Steve guided him to his hole, Bucky was helpless. They moaned with shared air, falling into a frantic rhythm together, like they were scared the other would disappear. 

When his knot started filling, Barnes dug his fingers into Steve’s ass, holding him in place while he ground his hips. Steve’s own hand worked between them, tugging desperately until he came with a whimper, clamping around Barnes’ knot and taking the Alpha over the edge with him. 

His head hit Steve’s shoulder, metal arm keeping most of his weight off the smaller man. He didn’t mean to speak, but he heard himself say, “You can call me Bucky. If you want.” 

Barnes cursed himself ten different ways until he heard Steve whisper, “Okay.” 

The Omega’s soft lips against his temple didn’t wash away all of his sins, but it felt like a benediction. He clenched his eyes shut against the onslaught of emotions and rolled them over until Steve sprawled across his chest. 

He settled into the silence that enveloped them, tracing idle patterns into Steve’s skin. He thought he remembered Steve liking to draw. He could probably get him a sketchbook. 

Steve shattered the quiet. “Are you going to help me?”

Barnes hand stilled. He didn’t open his eyes, but he sighed. Had that been what the sex was about? he couldn’t help wondering. “You’ll do something stupid if I don’t, won’t you?” He took Steve’s silence for affirmation and sighed again. “Yes.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank me. Just get some sleep.” 

Barnes hadn’t been happy before Steve crashed into his life, but he had been content. 

_ Only because you didn’t know any fucking better _ , he thought and— yeah. 

Their life was going to be a mess and there was a very real chance they could die, but with Steve in his arms, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

**Author's Note:**

> I used the dubcon tag because Steve is feral and in heat and, therefore, cannot consent. But he does know it’s Bucky on a subconscious level. He throws out the word rape before he realizes who Bucky is, but later tells Bucky he knew who he was. 
> 
> They have a past and Bucky has been brainwashed by Hydra for years. He breaks through the brainwashing and has a lot of inner turmoil about it because if he had been in his right mind, he would not have done anything without Steve’s express consent. 
> 
> If this sounds like it might be triggering for you, please do not read or proceed with caution. Look out for yourselves.Back


End file.
